NEWS FEATURE From 10 to 1 must be the motto for new Norwegian star Klaebo By John Bagratuni, dpa

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo did not quite live up to the expectations when he came 10th in his Olympic debut in the skiathlon but Norway‘s new cross-country skiing star is the big favourite in the next race, the sprint on Tuesday.Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Norwegian cross-country skiing shooting star Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo had a sneaking feeling that the 30-kilometres skiathlon may be a little long for his taste.Klaebo posted a photo of himself on Instagram late Saturday, lying in bed with his eyes closed and his hand in front of his face."When you realise you are going 30km tomorrow. Can it be done? Is it possible? Sprinter. 29km too long?" the caption read.Klaebo was partially right ahead of his Olympic debut as he finished 10th in Sunday‘s race, running out of steam in the end while compatriots Simen Hegstad Krueger, Martin Johnsrud Sundby and Hans Christer Holand provided Norway with a medal sweep."It was a tough one, and at the end I wasn‘t strong enough," Klaebo readily admitted."I can‘t be disappointed if you see three Norwegians on the top of the podium. It‘s quite cool to see and for me it (the race) was too high-speed. I did my best but it wasn‘t good enough today."The skiathlon could however have just been a good warm-up for the next race, Tuesday‘s 1.4km sprint which is his speciality discipline.If the 21-year-old prevails he will become the youngest man to win an Olympic cross-country ski gold, some nine months younger than Swede Gunde Svan was when he won the 15km in Sarajevo 1984.The omens are certainly good as Klaebo has won five of the six sprints contested this season and come second in the other.He is unbeaten in the classic style sprint which is also the technique on Tuesday at the Alpensia cross-country centre in Pyeongchang.He also got his first big event medal in the discipline, a bronze at last year‘s worlds in Lahti - after triple gold at the 2016 junior world championships, and also win the 2017 sprint World Cup title.The new Norwegian star has 12 World Cup wins overall of which nine have come in the current campaign, giving him the overall lead even though he skipped the Tour de Ski stage race to train for the Olympics.The impressive run this season made him one of the contenders Sunday, and his 10th place was somewhat below par as he had won a World Cup skiathlon in December.Even Holand readily admitted that "most people were looking at Martin and Johannes" on Sunday while he and Krueger "were there to help them medal."But Klaebo now has his first Olympic race under his belt and is more than ready to show his class on Tuesday."It‘s quite cool to be here and to be able to compete. I have a goal to be able to fight for the podium, so I have to go home now and just relax and try to be able to fight for it on Tuesday," he said.